Tag: East Bengal FC

Champions of the Indian Super League’s (ISLs) inaugural season, Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) have done splendid work over the past two years in promoting grassroots football in the city. In 2015 they brought West Bengal’s Indian Football Association’s (IFA) Nursery League back to life. Although their second run in the league was not as successful as the first, the club is still doing what they can for the sport. Co-owners, Sanjiv Goenka and Utsav Parekh are both focused on setting up a football academy in the city and promoting the sport. At their proposed academy, bright young stars can focus on football training while continuing with their academics as well.

The launch of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) has definitely encouraged the sport of football in the country. While more youth have been drawn to the sport, the ISL teams are doing what they can to give youngsters a platform to showcase their talent. After winning the inaugural season of the league, Atletico de Kolkata brought West Bengal’s Indian Football Association’s (IFA) Nursery League back to life. While some may argue that the team had selfish interests in doing so, the fact of the matter is that nearly 2000 children below the age of 14 got a chance to play competitive football. The club used the league to source new talent to train, and the team’s talent spotters looked for 15 to 20 children to send for the ISL grassroots development programme.

In the second season of the ISL, the West Bengal team were unable to reach the finals, but they haven’t let this interfere with their strong grassroots programme. Sanjiv Goenka, co-owner of the club, has spoken about his hopes of also acquiring a foreign team, but for now, his immediate focus is to build a football academy in Kolkata and really work on grassroots football in the country.

Christmas and New Year’s was a busy time for the U15 Youth League, and we found it difficult to keep up with everything going on in all four zones. Week 9 was the last of the season for the Goa Zone (Group C), while week 10 saw the last match of the Kolkata-Jamshedpur Zone (Group A) being played. This weekend, Week 11, saw the last match of the Maharashtra Zone (Group B) being played. Let’s catch up on everything we’ve missed, and see how Groups A, B and C ended the season!

Here’s a quick look at the scores of all the matches played over the last 3 weeks:

The action is heating up in the Hero U15 Youth League with just a handful of games left to be played in Groups A, B & C, Group D just underway and Groups E & F expected to start in January 2016. Here are all the Week 8 results from across the country:

We’re now well into the Hero Under-15 Youth League for Groups A & B. Having started off without any known or recognised favourites a little over a month ago, the stronger teams are gradually putting some distance between themselves and the chasing pack.

One of the biggest surprises, however, has been the underwhelming performances of an institution that has prided itself in producing India’s best footballers – Tata Football Academy. Languishing at the bottom of Kolkata-Jamshedpur Zone (Group A), with one draw and three losses from their four outings, it’s not the results that have been disappointing, it’s the performances too. In the four games played, TFA haven’t yet managed to score and, worse still, have allowed 11 goals in. True, these are still very young boys with a lot of football to be played in their careers, but from a development perspective, TFA seem to have their work cut out.

It’s been 4 weeks since the Hero Under-15 Youth League kicked-off, and the competition is really heating up! The Goa Zone (Group C) started off the week’s proceedings, when Dempo Sports Club U15 handed Sporting Club de Goa U15 a 5-0 hammering on Tuesday. Dempo were quick to start, scoring as early as the 9th minute. Baggio Fernandes then netted the ball in the 30th minute again, giving Dempo a 2-0 lead before half time. In the second half, Aaron Alvarez fired a brace, and assisted a third to give Dempo a massive 5-0 victory.

With the long Diwali weekend on, this Friday saw two Hero Under-15 Youth League matches being played. In the Kolkata-Jamshedpur Zone (Group A), Mohun Bagan AC U15 met SAI-East U15 on Friday afternoon at the Mohun Bagan ground. The hosts were put on the defensive when SAI-East’s Israfil Dewan netted the ball just before half time. He scored again in the second half, giving them a lead of 2-0. A late goal in the 79th minute by Mohun Bagan’s Kartick Mondal, however, was not enough for the team and the hosts ended up with a 2-1 loss. At the Cooperage ground on Friday evening, the Maharashtra Zone (Group B) saw an exciting match between Mumbai FC U15 and PIFA Sports U15. Goals by Clivert Millar and Kamran Ansari in the 22nd and 82nd minute respectively gave Mumbai FC a comfortable win over their local rivals.

While the AIFF has been under fire in the past few weeks regarding the ISL and I-League mess, they are still taking positive steps in other areas – especially in regard to grassroots football in India. The governing body recently conducted a Grassroots Leaders Workshop for representatives of all I-League & 2nd Division League clubs.